


A Walk in the Woods

by Kokinu09



Category: Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/M, Halloween, Werewolves, Wyaddison, Zeddison, Zombies, walk in the woods, zombies 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27362428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kokinu09/pseuds/Kokinu09
Summary: There are rules when you walk through the woods. The most important of all make sure you remember the way back home. Because as soon as you get lost, you’re just another piece of fresh meat. Addison has to learn that the hard way.
Relationships: Wyatt Lykensen & Addison Wells, Zed Necrodopoulus & Addison Wells
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	A Walk in the Woods

It isn’t fair how Seabrook won’t allow zombies to participate in their Halloween activities. Some bogus fear that their feral nature would resurface if they’re exposed to ‘the interpretations of wickedness,’ no matter how playful it may be. 

Addison rolls her eyes at the ridiculous implication. In the several months she’s known the zombies, never once has she felt like the outcast she always was with her fellow humans. And with her hair now exposed, she honestly feels like she belongs more with the zombies anyways. 

Especially with Zed. The zombie who encouraged her to be herself, who convinced her that she was beautiful inside and out. Now he is the one being oppressed once again. 

She is determined to stand beside him and the other zombies for their rights and protest the fall festival completely if the zombies weren’t allowed to participate. Of course, her one voice didn’t change the minds of the city council (aka her mother, the mayor) but anything in her power she can do, she will. 

So today, while the rest of Seabrook is setting up and preparing for the festivities this evening, Addison is putting together a basket of Halloween themed goodies for the zombies. She plans to get there just before dark and pass out the goodies to the community, then stay with Zed and his family for the night. 

But it’s getting later in the afternoon and she’s just now getting the treats packed up in her basket. If she leaves now, she can still make it before sundown like she planned but she still isn’t finished loading the plethora of sweets. She tries to hurry, being as careful as possible not to crush any cookies or pretzels in her rush. 

With the basket packed, she throws a thick, white shawl securely around her shoulders to fend off the autumn chill during her walk, her hair nearly blending into the fabric. As she makes her way to the front door, she’s stopped just as her fingers grip the handle. 

“Going out?” Her mother questions. Addison turns back to face her, forced smile on her lips. 

“Yeah, I’m going over to Zombietown for the evening,” she tells her matter-of-factly. Her mother frowns. 

“You ain’t helping them celebrate Halloween, are you?” She asks, tone telling her daughter that she already knows the answer. 

“No!” Addison sarcastically denies, swaying foot to foot. “ _ That  _ would be breaking the rules! I would  _ never _ do that!” 

“Mhm,” her mother’s eyes narrow at her but she surprisingly doesn’t retort back. “Since you obviously don’t plan to attend, I expect you’ll be home by the time festivities are over?” 

“Yes, Mom. I’ll walk home alone at midnight though Zombietown,” she agrees with thick sarcasm at her mother’s clear lack of worry for her well-being. She knows that comment will land her in trouble so she doesn’t stick around for the punishment, quickly grabbing the doorknob and rushing out into the crisp fall air.

“Addison Marie Wells!” Mayor Missy shouts, chasing behind her to the doorway. Addison doesn’t slow down, or even turn around. “Don’t make me regret letting you leave this house!” She warns. 

The teen snorts as she keeps going. It was quite the trek from her side of Seabrook to Zombietown. Looking up at the steadily moving sun, she groans in frustration. There is no way she’s going to be able to make it there with enough time, mentally cursing the zombie’s early curfew. If only there was a quicker way. 

Then an idea strikes her. There is a quicker way. A shortcut through the ‘Forbidden Forest.’ She might be able to cut at least half an hour off her time if she took it. Any time saved is better than none to her. So she changes course. 

It didn’t seem so bad at first. She has to duck under a few branches every once in a while, be careful not to trip on stray tree roots, but overall she feels she’s managing pretty well. 

There’s an itch in the back of her mind though. A feeling like someone is close by, keeping an eye on her. Strangely enough, it’s not an uncomfortable feeling. It almost makes her more confident as she walks, like she’s being watched over instead of just being  _ watched _ . 

Unfortunately, her confidence leads to losing track of which direction she was going. Hadn’t she just passed that tree? Didn’t she just come from that way?

It still feels like eyes are on her and if she stands really still she swears she can hear footsteps crunching leaves somewhere behind her. But she knows to never look behind herself. Her grandmother, as superstitious as she was before passing, always reminded her never to be scared but always to be very wary of the woods. It was one of her many pieces of advice. 

Addison remembers them by heart, she’s been told them so often after all. Growing up, she swore they were just meant to scare her from going into the forbidden forest. The myth that werewolves still stalk under cover of brush and trees to this day the biggest warning. But now that she was actually in the midst of the thick foliage, all of it feels so true. 

She goes through her grandmother’s cautions in her mind, maybe there’s a hint of how to find her way somewhere in them. She keeps pressing on and watching her step for beetles while she thinks. She knows there’s one about the way back home but what was it? She digs deep into her memories sitting with her grandmother. 

One time in particular suddenly stands out. 

The image of the elderly woman, close to the end of her life, in her rocking chair speaking to a young Addison sitting cross legged on the floor crosses her mind. How could she forget the way her grandmother said,  _ ‘Make sure you remember the way back home. As soon as you get lost, you’re just another piece of fresh meat.’ _

Addison snaps back to the present, looking as though she’s seen a ghost. Her face as pale as one and her eyes wide with panic. 

She’s lost and scared. What if all the rumors are true? What if there are blood thirsty werewolves just around the next tree? Addison shakes her head, chasing the thought away, but the pit in her stomach doesn’t shrink in the slightest. 

None of that matters now anyways. The fact is that she’s very lost and needs to find the edge of the forest, find civilization again. She keeps her eyes down, cautious not to fall in fear of being hurt and alone with no hope of assistance. 

Her eyes notice how large the next root is that she steps over and lifts her gaze to marvel at the massive old tree, staring at the thick canopy above. It dwarfs the rest of the trees in the forest, easily triple the diameter of any others surrounding her. 

“Wow,” she breaths, fingers brushing across the rough bark as she starts to circle it. She never realized just how beautiful the forest was. Beams of orange setting sunlight peeking through the leaves and she is completely mesmerized. More people should appreciate the little things like this in life. 

Suddenly, a twig snaps right beside her. She looks up just in time to see an enormous black bear towering over her, clawed paw raised before swinging and throwing her to the ground. 

Addison whimpers, hand lifting to grip the bleeding gashes on her bicep with the basket still looped around her elbow. The three scratches sting but luckily aren’t too bad. The claw managed to tear the fabric of her shawl but only grazed her skin and broke the surface. 

But the relief over her arm is short lived as the shadow of the bear looms over her once more. She stares petrified up at the beast. She wants to scream or run but her body is completely frozen in fear. 

Is this how it ends for her? Is she going to die here in the woods? Alone and defenseless?

The bear rears back, she squeezes her wide eyes shut. Waiting for the pain, the promise of death at this bears claws. She finds it funny, in her final moments, that her end would be by a bear. The one thing she hadn’t been fearful of encountering. But here she is. 

The sound of a loud howl makes her eyes shoot open. She watches in shock as a man jumps in front of her and strikes the bear with enough force to send it flying back several feet, even more surprising is how easy he accomplishes it. The bear is barely moving as it tries to regain its orientation from that devastating hit. 

Addison returns her sights to the man who just saved her. His spot crouching defensively between her and the danger. His chocolate brown hair adorned with a patch of pure white across his bangs. A color of white that matched identically to the stray fly aways that fell across her forehead. Her heart pounded that much harder. 

What if their hair was similar for a reason!

He looks back over his shoulder at her, markings painted across his cheek and eyes just as mesmerizing as she was by the beauty of nature moments ago. He doesn’t say a word but his brilliant brown eyes are expectant, telling her to run. 

But she stays frozen in place staring back at him. She wishes she could run but her muscles just won’t listen. By a stroke of luck, though, she’s able to find the faintest bit of her voice.

“I can’t leave you,” she whispers, making him snort humorlessly.

“Yes you can,” his gruff voice replies low, turning his face away.

“No!” She protests, grabbing his wrist as he moves to stand. His head snaps back to her and her eyes go wide again, shocked by her own actions.

He is obviously dangerous, she should be staying as far away as possible. But, she  _ can’t.  _ Something inside her can’t run away from him. Something that’s drawing her in to him. And besides, he’s helping her. He can’t be all that bad, right? 

“I won’t leave you,” she promises, her voice coming out softer than she expects it to. She watches as his face shifts quickly through an array of expressions (surprise, confusion, sadness) but finally landing on a soft smile. 

“You don’t need to worry, Little Flower,” he says, smirking confidently. “I’m a fierce, proud werewolf,” the low growl in his chest set his eyes ablaze with a fiery yellow. But she’s not frightened like she should be. Instead, she is captivated. “One measly bear won’t be my downfall,” he assures. 

A wave of panic fills her chest as he stands from his spot crouching in front of her, his back facing her but he still smiles over his shoulder. “But I need you to get out of here so I can focus.” 

She thinks about his words for a moment. Maybe she is putting them both in more danger if she stays. He could be constantly checking that she’s alright instead of concentrating on the fight. She stands, her stormy blue eyes locking with his intense brown ones. 

“Can I at least know your name?” She asks, voice barely above a whisper. The corner of his lips quirks up with his smirk before parting to reply. 

He’s interrupted as the bear roars angrily, finally regaining its cognition from the werewolf’s punishing blow. The trees seem to quake around them from its powerful vibrations. 

“That way,” he points. “Keep running straight until you can’t anymore. Go! Now!” He shouts. 

So she runs. 

She’s exhausted; her feet aching from the hike to get to this point, her ankles screaming at her as she maneuvers across uneven ground at high speeds, but she keeps running. She refuses to let him down. Then out of nowhere, she sees the break in the forest. The setting sunlight brighter as the trees thin out until she stumbles and falls to the ground as her knees give out once she’s out of the tree line. 

She made it. 

Sitting in shock, she stares at the foliage, where she’d just ran for her life. How far did she run? Was that mysterious, brave werewolf ok back there? 

She’s startled from her daze when she hears her name being called with worry in its tone.

“Addison? Oh Z, Addison are you ok?” It’s Zed, she’d recognize his voice anywhere. Her head whips around to see him jogging towards her, brows knitted with the worry she’d heard before. She relaxes at the sight of him jogging towards her; knowing that if he was there, she was safe. 

He finally reaches her, skidding to a stop on his knees in his hast. She welcomes the warmth of his arms as soon as they encircle her, fingers gripping the rough fabric of his coveralls as she buries her face in his chest. 

The floodgates in her eyes shatter as the weight of the situation finally hits her. She could have  _ died _ . 

Zed holds onto her tightly with a hand rubbing her back to soothe away her sobs, his soft whispers in her ears for reassurance start to break through the sound of her sobs. “Addy, what happened? Can you tell me?” He asks softly, tucking his chin and craning his neck in an attempt for her to look at him. She just shakes her head against his chest, even burying her face even more. 

“It’s ok, come inside and warm up. Your hands are freezing,” he encourages, assisting her to stand. He keeps his arms securely around her, wobbly legs threatening to crumble beneath her. He leans down, grabs the basket that was toppled over forgotten, and quickly straightens back to her side. 

Addison doesn’t fight as he gently guides her towards the warmth and safety of his family’s home. She also can’t stop her head from turning to look back to the tree line, waiting for brilliant burning yellow eyes to appear. 

But they never show.


End file.
